The heavenly virtues: 10 kind footballers

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Friday 29 May 2009

In the item below headed 'Heartening moment – Leicester City, 2007', we said "Gary Megson's Leicester City agreed to abandon their Carling Cup tie with Nottingham Forest when Forest midfielder Clive Clarke suffered a heart attack". This should have said that Nottingham Forest agreed to abandon their Carling Cup tie with Leicester City when City midfielder Clive Clarke (on loan from Sunderland) suffered a heart attack. At the time of this game, Leicester's manager was Martin Allen. Soon after, Gary Megson replaced him.

Charitable touch – Ferenc Puskas, 1967

Bankfield House, a community centre in Garston, Merseyside, used to hold an annual fundraising football match in the 1960s that was played at Holly Park, the home of South Liverpool FC. In 1967 its organiser, "to try and liven it up a bit", sent a message to Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas, inviting him to play. "It was tongue-in-cheek", he said. "I never expected a reply." Puskas, who had recently retired, sent a telegram: "All I wait is you send me plane ticket." A sell-out crowd of 10,000 duly turned up to see him, raising £1,100 about £20,000 in today's money.

Striker's instinct – Robbie Fowler, 1997

Robbie Fowler's lifting of his shirt, after he scored at the Kop end against Brann Bergen in March 1997, to reveal a message of support for 500 sacked dockers at the port of Liverpool showed the Toxteth boy was more in touch with his roots than your average multi-millionaire property magnate. Uefa promptly fined him 2,000 Swiss francs for contravening rules against displaying political logos at football grounds (commercial logos only please gents), though their press release announcing the punishment ("It may seem strange and even unfair", it began) suggested they knew how silly they it looked. Steve McManaman was wearing an identical shirt that night, but a failure to score saved him some cash.

Gandulla does his duty – Bernardo Gandulla, 1930s

Bernardo Gandulla rivals Carlos Tevez as the one of the biggest Argentine names to play in Brazil, but Gandulla's transfer to Vasco da Gama in 1939 was a failure. Nevertheless, he refused to sulk while on the bench, running after the ball every time it went out of play and tossing it back either to his team-mates or the opposition. There was no hint of the prima donna, and in Brazil "gandulla" now means ball boy.

Pat on the back – Eusebio, 1968

In the 1968 European Cup final, three minutes from the end, Benfica's greatest player was denied a chance to win the game by a spectacular save from Alex Stepney. Eusebio applauded the save and patted the Manchester United keeper on the back. Three United goals settled matters in extra time.

Something for nothing – Joseba Etxeberria, 2008

Times are tough in the Basque Country where, for the first time in their history, Athletic Bilbao have been forced to put a sponsor's name on their shirt. Joseba Etxeberria, a Spanish international winger who has been at the San Mames since 1995, wanted to do his bit and announced that, for his final season before retirement, he would not accept any wages for his final campaign. "There are not words enough to thank such a gesture," said the club president Fernando Garcia Macua. Ashley Cole was unavailable for comment.

Heartening moment – Leicester City, 2007

Gary Megson's Leicester City agreed to abandon their Carling Cup tie with Nottingham Forest when Forest midfielder Clive Clark suffered a heart attack. Forest were leading 1-0 when the game was called off, so when the match was rescheduled, in a show of great sportsmanship, Leicester allowed Forest's goalkeeper, Paul Smith, to dribble the ball unopposed into their net from the kick-off. Leicester won 3-2.

Di Canio's catch – West Ham v Everton, 2000

With the Everton keeper Paul Gerrard on the floor injured coming out of his area, the loose ball crossed into the box and the goal theoretically at Paolo Di Canio's mercy, the striker caught the ball rather than attempt to score West Ham's winner. While team-mate Freddie Kanouté raged "I was very disappointed. All the team was shocked" – Di Canio won the Fifa fair play award that year.

Queen of Hearts – Mary White, 1938-2007

There are many examples of extreme loyalty among football fans, but Mary White's 69 years supporting Hearts would be hard to beat. She took in her first game in 1938 and did not miss another match at Tynecastle until she was taken ill with a brain tumour on her 91st birthday. Since Hearts have not won the Scottish championship since 1960, this was a selfless effort, during which time she saw ticket prices increase from 1/6 to £38. Mary was cremated in her maroon scarf and her ashes scattered on Tynecastle's turf.

Lazar lets it drop – Rapid Bucharest, 2009

Robbie Fowler (see above) may have tried to persuade referee Gerald Ashby that he did not deserve a penalty at Highbury in March 1997 but he did take it. Rapid Bucharest's midfielder, Costin Lazar, was so insistent when given a penalty playing Otelul Galati this season that the official relented and awarded a drop-ball. Bucharest didnt need to worry – they won 4-0.

On me – Martin ONeill, 2009

Although he learned at the feet of Brian Clough, the Aston Villa manager displayed something of the spirit of Shankly. After a virtual Villa reserve side had slumped out of the Uefa Cup to CSKA Moscow, O'Neill offered to host a dinner for the 295 supporters who had made the trip. O'Neill has denied it was "an admission of guilt" and that he will be doing something similar every time Villa are thrashed away from home.